Google Workers Seek End to Immigration Deals

A growing group of Google employees is urging company leadership to end cloud-computing work connected to federal immigration enforcement, reviving a wave of internal activism that had been largely dormant in recent years, The New York Times reports.

More than 800 workers signed a petition this week calling on Google to disclose how its technology is used by immigration agencies and to halt business with those organizations altogether.

The petition condemns what employees describe as aggressive enforcement tactics by federal agents and argues that Google’s tools should not be associated with such actions.

The push intensified after two fatal encounters involving federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, which sparked widespread discussion on Google’s internal forums.

Employees also raised safety concerns following reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempted to access Google’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The effort marks a renewed willingness among tech workers to challenge corporate leadership, even as Silicon Valley executives have largely moved to align themselves with the Trump administration since the president’s return to office.

Although the petition represents a small share of Google’s roughly 190,000 employees, it echoes earlier moments of unrest at the company.

In recent years, management curtailed internal activism by limiting access to internal communications and disciplining workers who protested company contracts, including cloud services tied to foreign governments.

Still, some employees say the company’s founding values continue to resonate.

“Even if the slogan is gone, the principle hasn’t disappeared,” said Matthew Tschiegg, a cloud engineer who signed the petition and has worked at Google for more than a decade.

The petition was organized by No Tech for Apartheid, an advocacy group made up of Google and Amazon employees that has previously campaigned against cloud contracts involving military and government agencies.

It references reporting that links Google cloud infrastructure to Customs and Border Protection and highlights the company’s partnership with Palantir, a firm whose software has been used in immigration tracking.

A Google spokesperson said federal agencies access Google’s cloud services indirectly through customers using standard, commercially available products, including data storage and computing tools.

Employees behind the petition say they want clearer answers.

Among their demands are a public forum with company leadership, transparency around government contracts, and assurances that Google’s artificial intelligence systems will not be used for immigration enforcement.

“For a company that talks about responsibility, these unanswered questions matter,” Tschiegg said. “There’s a real ethical line here.”